'The lot is marked “VORHES”, though some articles call it “Voorhees” or “Voorhis”'<p>I think this might be a derivation of the Dutch word "voorhuis" (<a href="https://translate.google.com/#auto/en/voorhuis" rel="nofollow">https://translate.google.com/#auto/en/voorhuis</a>). The transliteration is "front house" (as in front office, portal, hall) and usually denotes a street level entrance to a larger complex. Given that New York had a lot of immigration from the Netherlands (heck, it was called New Amsterdam for a while) I think this might make sense.
This is so much the HN I love! :)
sticking it to the man, people figuring it out so many years later and me reading from the other side of world about the definace of David Hess (however small it may be)
Having spent a lot of time immersed in NYC property configurations recently, we can use the calculated sqft of 7.3 and look up the zoning on NYC ZoLa (zone C4-5) gives a commercial floor-area-ratio of 3.4. This means a building serving commercial tenants could be built with a grand total of about 24.8 sq ft. With standard set-backs, you're looking at about 5 floors but the top ones would be tight at around 3 sqft each.